1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable meal preparation apparatus, and more particularly, to a combination microwave oven, refrigeration unit, storage compartment, and power supply together with a case therefore for carrying the various units in a vertical stack as a single integral package.
2. Description of the Prior Art
If a person desires to go on a picnic, to take his meal to work, or to have available the various types of apparatus or devices he might need for preparing a meal, he would normally be required to carry an ice chest with him together with a separate picnic basket or container or carrying various materials needed for food preparation. He would further be required to carry some type of portable charcoal or gas grill or burner in order to heat or cook any food he might desire cooked. The time required for lighting up the charcoal or cooking with gas and the like is relatively long and timeconsuming.
Furthermore, carrying separate units with him, and possibly other things such as a bag of charcoal, and the like, might require several trips between home and the automobile or between the automobile and the picnic or meal site.
The combination of the present invention provides all of the units necessary for preparing substantially any meal including a microwave oven unit as a heating or cooking media, a refrigerator or ice chest for keeping the food cool until preparation time, a storage container unit for carrying the various items needed for food preparation, and a power supply unit for powering at least the microwave oven, and preferably both the microwave oven and the refrigerator unit. The four units are each generally rectangular in shape and adapted to be vertically stacked one upon the other to make a single integral stack. The stacked units are then placed in a carrying case which can be carried via a handle or by straps, as in a conventional backpack configuration. This invention avoids all of the problems which had heretofore gone unsolved in the prior art while subscribing to none of the prior art's shortcomings.